I’m sorry, but I will have to agree more with Coach Davis in that Bucknell simply played sloppy basketball with 19 turnovers. Of course poor 3-pt shooting aided the losing effort but shooting comes and goes...consistently throwing the ball away is something that is entirely preventable. And Boston is definitely a good team....not sure why some thought it would be a blowout.

Yes I was glad to see there was no give up and the guys made it somewhat of a game down the stretch. Bruce had perhaps his best game as a Bison, at least that I saw in person. I was glad to see him take the ball inside some and battle for rebounds. I heard Zach was not feeling well, so he gets a bit of a break for his poor shooting and turnovers...but he still battled and gave great effort. And for all his struggles, he still put up 25/13.

This loss was the worst I’ve seen in years. It was atrocious and most alarming was the overall lack of caring by the team and coaches. This team is a poor excuse for a PL preseason favorite and the blame should be assigned to the coaches first and then the seniors. I hope they read this thread too because this was an awful effort. I watch A-Sun games here in Jax and this performance was below that level of play by miles. And that ain’t good!!!

It’s disheartening to see a PL home game result in this kind of complete sh$$ effort.

Bruce needs to stop guarding guards, he just cannot stay in front of them. Davis took Bruce off Hankerson and put Brown on him instead but it was too late.

Agree 100%. ND should have moved Brown onto Hankerson much earlier. Might well have won the game. Bruce is long and athletic, but he really is a four. Asking him to guard quick 6-3 wings is not a great idea. Next year he will step into Zach's spot - which is where he fits. Otoh, Avi is perfect as a defender against quick wings like Hankerson.

One other thought. ND has totally abandoned the idea of ever using a zone, and I don't understand it. If nothing else, a zone can act as a change-of-pace when the M2M is not working. The first 1.5 years, they used the matchup somewhat successfully but since mid-December last year we have only seen it a few times - none this year.

Did Birdsong address Zach's status at all. Apparently he had the flu. Had to quickly leave the bench - presumably for the bathroom - during the timeout with about 2:30 left in the first half. Despite that, he worked really hard and pulled down 13 rebounds.

The one other bright spot was Bruce Moore getting 18 points on 7 shots and also 5 rebounds - which should be his minimum every game.

The game had a big name reffing crew, but I thought they did a lousy job - at least Tim Ebersole and Jose Carrion. Jeff Janosik was OK. Nathan Davis apparently also thought they did a lousy job, as this was perhaps the angriest I've seen him towards the refs. He directed a lot of comments at them, and I think he was close to being t'd up at one point.

B137 - no tactical Zone...this is something that I raised consistently since the start of OOC. While this is worrying enough, more worrying is the fact that we make NO tactical changes in-game EVER. If we didn’t see it in OOC, trust me, we’re not seeing in PL. Jones came in pre-game and knew he couldn’t score with the Bison over 40 minutes MTM and his assessment was 100% correct. We look at Arkansas and don’t seem to be able to make the same determination? We’re down 15 late in the second half and we have no options defensively. We’ve never shown Zone press even if not an aggressive one (I.e., like the one BU employed which gets you deeper into the shot click) and we don’t have the personnel to pressure MTM. If you don’t practice these sets hard to employ.

This won’t be the only Zone we see in the PL now. Bruce finally cut thru the zone at the 7:00 minute mark of the first half and got a feed for a soft 10 footer and I never saw it again. 4 outside standing looking for 3’s that weren’t there and for NF and NS inside followed by 3 out with BR st the high post in the second half. Didn’t appear to be something we practiced and the only person more surprised to see BR there than me appeared to be BR! —- poor kid. No short porch, no triangulation, one cut to the middle by Bruce, no working inside out for 3’s. Same direct outside in pass to the post that resulted in 5-6+ turnovers.

Apologies for being so negative but I don’t agree with JKR that only 3 games in March matter. You have to learn to prepare, learn to compete, learn to win. I would love Bob Knights (who I despise) view on just “turning it on in March”. There’s clearly no panic here but at the same time all the excuses are over. We’re 1-1 in the PL after two games with both at home and one against American w/o Nelson and Boston w/o Havener. We’re not the only NCAA team missing guys.

I didn’t expect many bumps in the road in the PL and the bedrock of that premise was that we would go 9-0 st Sojka. This appears now to have been a really naive position.

Finally we have also recruited a number of people who can’t play real pressure MTM and worse, who can’t play aggressive half-court MTM defense w/o fouling. We were in the penalty at the 13:00 minute mark if the second half. On one sequence, NJ fouled Hankerson just on the inbound set. Can’t just assume you’re going to outscore people all the time because shooting comes and goes. Sotos with a beautiful jumper of the dribble but struggled otherwise including defensively. Was that Goff or JJ Reddick in the first half?

And Boston is definitely a good team....not sure why some thought it would be a blowout.

Because Phillie coming in we were ranked 93 in Pomeroy and Boston were ranked 232. We are at home. It should have been a blowout.

Boston had underachieved heading into league games - but they had played well against Army and they have a lot of talent. (See my earlier post.) Hankerson's re-emergence as a star has turned them into a legitimate title contender. They were picked for 2nd in the preseason poll, and that may be an accurate appraisal.

Bison ranking (Pomeroy) is now #106. Last year going into PL games, they ranked 126th, and after two PL games they were #115. They ended up #76.

What changed to move them up so dramatically? Well, two major things were: (a) Kimbal Mackenzie breaking out as an All-PL level player (scoring up 57% in PL games and a lot more confidence); and (b) Avi Toomer moving into the starting lineup. Hopefully the return of those two players will create the same spark - or more - as did their elevated play last year.

In almost any situation in life, being flexible and willing to change what isn’t working is not only considered a good thing, but a necessary thing in order to do your best and to succeed. I admit I am not basketball strategist, but it seems crazy to not have any flexibility in what you are able to do. I get that you have basics that are your bread and butter but having nothing to fall back on when those aren’t working doesn’t seem like good planning. Also it is noteworthy from an earlier post that Coach Davis doesn’t appear to recruit the kinds of players that beat can play his system, at least not defensively. A zone defense certainly gives us problems at times. Throwing bad entry passes inside time and time again was maddening.

The game last night hopefully is a wakeup call to the whole team including coaches because I am sure we will see zone defense a lot more now down the road from other teams in the league. I do have to say hats off to Joe Jones on the zone defense it did what it was supposed to do for sure.

Zach played a good game for being sick and you could defiantly tell he was under the weather with shots he usually hits not dropping. Sick or not sick you can tell he wants to win with all of the effort he leaves on the court.
Bruce stepping up for second game in a row with scoring and doing the little stuff that helps you win games. Hopefully this is what we have been waiting for with Bruce.

A few things I saw in person which needs to change in the future against zone defense.
-1 movement is one big thing that needs to happen. I would say a good chunk of the time Nana and Nate posted on the right block and didn't move around either to the elbows or set screens to help create openings for penetration in the zone.
-2 ball fakes! I don't know if I saw one ball fake at all in the game last night.
-3 forcing passes to the inside was where some of the turn overs came from in the first half. There was times they were trying to get Nana the ball on the block and he was double or triple teamed.

4 outside standing looking for 3’s that weren’t there and for NF and NS inside followed by 3 out with BR st the high post in the second half. Didn’t appear to be something we practiced and the only person more surprised to see BR there than me appeared to be BR! —- poor kid.

BR?? Does R = M and thus this is the code for Bruce Moore? For someone who invests so very many keystrokes in your thorough posts, you sure are frugal when it comes to typing names.

Oh....Ben Robertson.

Edited by BisonRoadWarrior on 01-03-18 01:45 PM. Reason for edit: Code was cracked after consulting Bucknell roster, which surely took much longer than the extra time required to type the three-character "Ben" instead of the two-character "BR"

I call you BRW and you never get confused...I think you like me but I have to tell you I'm married.

If you're writing posts solely for your own comprehension, by all means, don't change a thing. Life will go on and (indulging here in an abbreviation of my own) I'll continue to find your sentences that look like algebra equations annoying AF.

Yes, but the difference is that my agile mind (unlike yourself and Paulie's algorithm's) has quickly discerned your sentiment! You'll get over it and one day that Bucknell education will kick in and it will be like an epiphany.

On a separate note BRW, can you tell me if the other team scores over 80 and wins...can we still get a free frosty?